May 13 re-visited

A group of men in uniform were walking along the dusty road about 50 meters from my house, all of them with firearms which looks like M16 in their hands. I was curious with this sight as I never seen so many men in uniform all my life. The only guns I ever saw was those used by the hunters to shoot birds flying back to their nest in the evenings at the nearby forest.

The incident happens 40 years ago when I was just 4. It was a day after the May 13 Incident. When I drove past the same road in my hometown last month, I reflect upon on how naive I was then. Never cross my mind then that people had died days before and a number of racial riots occured in other parts of the country especially Kuala Lumpur which I have never set foot until years later.

I was told then that there were trouble in the country and we are not allowed to get out from our house. Emergency has been declared! Never understands what was the fuss all about, I still ventured out from the house and played hide and seek.

The actual story of the May 13 Incident or more popularly known as "513" by the Chinese community was very alien to me. I was only told the Malays and Chinese were fighting and killing each other. Never understands the social-economic and political factors which coloured the incident.

I was too young to understand anyway or to be more precised, I was too hungry to be bothered by all these grown-ups problem. My family was too poor to be bothered, what matters is whether we are going to have food on the table for our next meal.

Those who suffered during the tumultous period of our nation might wants to forget but the 513 never fades away as time passes by. We will be reminded again and again by some irresponsible politicians that 513 will happen again if we do not vote them or their party.

Going to school in my hometown never erases the incident from my mind as most of classmates are "familiar" with the story. Furthermore, my hometown always have the benefit of perspectives of different parties from the political divide serving us. We have the benefit of listening to stories from both side. Gerakan held the parliamentary seat while DAP and Umno had a seat each in the state seats. Race was never a issue. The local DAP assemblyman was a Malay and he speaks a smattering of Mandarin and local dialects.

University was the place that I gained more information on the 513 incident even though it may not be the full and precised story. I was studying history and political science which entails to me to read on various subjects related to history and politics in Malaysia. Most of the English books on Malaysian modern history were authored by western authors while those in Malay language was written by mostly nationalist Malays.

Reading these books, we need to be objective and not to be swayed by the personal emotions and value judgement of the writers. Furthermore, many of the documents on 513 were still official secrets and these writers may not have the privilege of seeing the documents themselves to provide a factual and unbiased statements.

After 40 years the ghost of May 13 still haunts those that live through it and a shadow over national unity. It is like a nail that is still imbedded in the heart of this country. It's time to have an operation and removed the nail from the heart once and for all.

It's time to tell the truth on what really happens on May 13 Incident and move on with our lifes especially those that were directly affected by the incident, once and for all. - Loka